


They'd Won

by RainySteve



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 16:24:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16747465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainySteve/pseuds/RainySteve





	They'd Won

"Was it all worth it Perseus?" she asks, her voice harshly calm. "I hope it was"

He didn't answer, he wasn't even listening, not while she held Annabeth with a dagger under her chin. Not when one swift move could kill her. 

"You could have stopped this," it angered him how much she mocked him. He wanted to fight her but he couldn't be to sudden or too rash. Annabeth was in no shape to tell him exactly what to do and he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. 

His muscles hurt with the tension he was putting in his sword arm. "You want me," he croaked. "Fight  _me_!"

She chuckled making him even more desperate, the dagger shifting in her hand making some blood appear.  _NO._ He couldn't lose her. "What good is it to me if you fight me and I win?"

"You'll be remembered as a hero, brave even in his last moments." Her expression had gone sour. "I don't want you to be a hero, I want you to suffer and  _then_ die. Her death will torture you more than a defeat," she had the nerve to laugh. "Her death  _will_ be your defeat!"

"No!" He hated knowing it.  _She's going to kill her_. "Please don't," he begged. "Please"

He knew his friends were on their way. They'd defeated the giants, Percy himself had killed 2, but they never expected to encounter Gaea herself. She could pulverize them both any second, yet she chose to torture them. Both of them. 

Annabeth could only stare as he fell apart, it only now struck her that he'd never seen him cry, at least not like he did now. Desperate, furious, frustrated.

Percy had never been one to pray, but he did then. He prayed to his father and to Annabeth's mother; she prayed to Aphrodite and -for what it was worth- he even prayed to Ares. He hated them for putting her in that position -after all she'd gone through- but he completely forgot about his pride and begged and prayed. He already felt defeated.  _Not her._

Suddenly, the door burst open. The rest of the seven had arrived.

"Percy!"

"Don't-" Gaea cut in. "Any of you move the girl dies"

It was only then that they fully precieved the scene before them. At some point, someone had to make a move, everyone depended on it. 

It was Annabeth who did.

She sprang to the left in a failed attempt to pull free, Gaea pulled her in almost immediately, but the movement gave Percy a chance. He lunged, and so did she.

Percy heard a cry before him but was confused by a swirl of blonde hair and earth. He saw a spot, dug his sword and just like that, Gaea crumbled. He stared as she dissolved into nothing but a small hill of dirt and then dust. She wasn't dead, but she was asleep. They'd won.

His friend's cheers were muffled in the background. Apparently they hadn't seen Annabeth fall, neither had Percy, it was only now that he noticed her too-still body on the floor. " _Annabeth_ "

He fell to his knees beside her and dragged her cold figure unto his chest. "You're not dead" It seems that the rest got the message now, no one spoke. Only Percy could be heard. "Don't you dare Annabeth!  _Don't you dare!"_

All that anger that had accumulated through-out the years seemed to rush through him, yet he was hollow,heavy with the source of grief. He didn't want to mourn her, he couldn't believe she was dead. There had to be something -anything-  that could save her. All those close calls they'd had...it should've been him. 

"Do something!" he ordered the rest of the seven, now six."Get a medic!" He knew it was useless yet he sobbed it anyways. 

A few moments later, another group of people walked through the room: Thalia and Nico. 

They both went completely pale when they saw Annabeth on the floor. "Gods no," Thalia whisper, it was all she could muster before she crumbled to the ground. "NO!"

Percy hadn't stopped crying and screaming, her body never parted from his chest. Where was her heartbeat? Why couldn't he hear her heartbeat?!

Nico stumbled towards them and put a hand on his shoulder. "Percy-"

"No," he cut in. "She's not dead" He knew she was. 

Nico didn't know what to say, he couldn't bear seeing like this. There was no brave hero there, he was only broken. It was excruciating to watch. 

_They'd won._


End file.
